Random acts of kindness…er.....I mean rewards.

In my last article I finished with this quote from Lyte, Riot’s Lead Designer of Social Systems. 

"If players are genuinely positive people, they'll get random surprises and perks like this in League. No one in the industry really does it like this, but we'll see how it pans out because we're willing to take risks and just try things. Sometimes we might tie it to lower Reports or high Honor, sometimes we'll tie it to players with no bans and sometimes it'll be for positive language such as how often you say "gg" versus "n*gger." Players who are consistently positive and respectful in game will find that cool things just happen to them in League."

Now I want to analyze it a bit more to poke and what we could be seeing from them and why this is so different from most other games.  Let’s first be honest here “random surprises and perks” is a pretty broad so think of it like a mystery box that could have anything inside and seriously who doesn’t like surprises?  Riot could decide to give the players that are positive and respectful things like; IP Boosts, Icons, Special Skins, RP Points, Runes, Rune Pages or even some other things for those who are found the be at the top of the community.  

Rather than just giving flat amounts of IP giving the IP boosts seem more like a reward and are something as a player you’d notice more.  Similar to getting first win the of day bonus a boost is something that is very visible.  IP Boosts hold an advantage over any other option, they don’t need any additional design and can be implemented almost immediately.  We then run into this dilemma do they give per win or timed? I feel like per win IP boosts are most likely, the reason is simply because in the past when Riot has given out IP boosts for winning things like golden joystick they have been per win.  The only exception, I believe, was when there were the problems during the season two championships and there was an IP boost that lasted the entire weekend.  If they gave someone a one day IP boost and that just happens to be the day they don’t play then the boost is wasted.  The solution to giving time based IP boosts is to give them out through an email that includes a code which would allow them to activate them whenever they wish.  These also really don’t “cost” anything to riot in terms of monetary value.  Sure the boosts cost money to buy but there is no guarantee the person getting the boost would’ve bought one otherwise.  The final problem with IP is what do you give people that have all the champions and runes.  Sure they could buy more rune pages but there will come a point where they just don’t use them.

Two more interesting choices are special icons and skins the difference with these two, compared to IP or RP, is the amount of design work that will be required to create these things.  For players a skin or an icon is something they can really show off to people while playing the game.  Telling your friends to look at your sweet IP boost or additional riot points doesn’t bring the same feeling of excitement that a cool icon or even more cool skin would bring.  These things provide more motivation to the player to be a positive community member since they are extremely visual and able to be seen by everyone you encounter.  As with any option this has its problems and gives Riot a decision to make about how favorable this would be.  An icon would be pretty straight forward to implement after it goes through all the design stages.  It won’t move and will only be seen before joining a game queue and in the post-game lobby.  Then we get to the skin which could provide multiple problems some more complicated than others.  The skin will have to go through all the normal design and animation problems that any new skin goes through which is a much smaller issue in my mind.  The big problem that comes up is this, which champion gets the “Good Guy” skin and why? Does it fit some theme with that champion or did riot just pick a name from a hat?  What if they decide to give a new skin to a champion that I don’t enjoy playing? Then to me it seems like a waste and I’m not as motivated I would be if it was a champion I played.  Next what happens once you get the skin/icon?  Are there additional rewards or are you just done?

An alternative to giving away a skin they could just decide to give out RP. Similar to IP boosts this wouldn’t have any additional design required and could be implemented immediately.  The player would also then be able to pick a skin that they like for a champion they play or buy a champion they want.  This again runs into the problem that this isn’t really a visual reward that you can show off to your friends.  Riot points also cost money to buy but there was no guarantee this person would’ve bought riot points.  This seems like a simple solution that gives players a good reward that will motivate them to continue being good as they can receive it multiple times without any problems or additional work.

Besides the obvious things already listed there are more tangible fun things Riot could do for those that are good.  Send out Swag bags with riot merchandise; teemo hats, baron pillows, Blitzcrank hoodies, etc. maybe include a letter thanking you for the good behavior.  This gives players some really cool things to get that they can actually hold and touch rather than cool pixels that the other rewards would be.  Other cool things could be some tickets to a League event for the really exceptional people or to meet some Rioters in sunny Santa Monica at the office; shake hands with Phreak, chat with Nika, or have coffee with Morello. 

The only question that remains is how will they implement it?  Will it be random rewards like the lottery, or a tiered system that progressively gives different rewards for each time you reach a milestone?  The only thing we can be sure of is Lyte won’t reveal his secret master plan!

Let the speculation continue and let us hear your comments! Give suggestions on future topics or a Series of topics you’d like to see!
Thanks for reading!
Ron Fendo

Tribunal, and my thoughts on changing player behavior.

In light of the last article by AJ about the banning of Iwilldominate I offer this little piece to munch on, ok maybe it’s not so little.

Many people who play league of legends have seen the tribunal by participating it in either as “judge” or being the one “judged”.  For anyone who hasn’t experienced the system here is a small explanation of what it is and how it works.  The tribunal is a system which uses in game reports to decide what conduct is appropriate while playing the game and interacting with others.  These reports are built up and then given to those participating in the system as “judges.” The players then decide if the conduct was acceptable or unacceptable which leads to their verdict of either pardon or punish.  Many of you may be thinking “why should the community make all the decisions of if people are getting punished?” The player support agents at riot then use this information to hand out penalties if they truly believe they are warranted.  So who actually gets penalized for their action isn’t directly handled by the community, the community is able to have some say and build its own sense of what they do and don’t want allowed.  This was just a very light intro into the tribunal for the official FAQ you can check out riots website here. 

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=2411284

If you talk to anyone who has been banned you’ll hear the same story about how they were unjustly banned and how broken the system is.  Then you have the other side where there are people who take their time on every tribunal case and read the chat to determine if this person should really be in tribunal or if they are just being ganged up on by a group of players.  Personally I’ve found this to rarely be the case and these people who are getting suspended and banned are in the wrong.  What I mean by that isn’t necessarily that they don’t know what they are talking about; they just don’t portray it in a kind manner.  There are a few trends I notice from doing tribunal on a daily basis that usually lead to bans.  Any kind of personal attack is going to get you in hot water when it comes to going into tribunal and more than often it’s going to result in some action.  The next big issue to avoid is telling people to kill themselves or that they are worthless.  Once a team becomes fragmented it is very difficult to repair that and bring everyone back together to work as a team.

The biggest problem I see consistently with people getting banned is either racial/gay slurs or just rampant swearing directed at someone.   Saying anything directed towards someone immediately makes at least me look more at the chat.  Words like f*ggot, c*nt, n*gger, etc. are just not going to fly when it comes to most people for a few reasons.  Some people find those works hugely offensive and those words are just insensitive.  I’ve actually come across people in games who hear those words and politely ask for the speaker not to use them, from time to time you actually see people who will say sorry. Other times it just leads to that person getting trolled for the rest of the game which is completely unacceptable and honestly just annoying to the rest of the team.  That leads into my next point about trolling; from time to time trolling someone will result in them just leaving the game.  Now a close game is a four versus five and the people who weren’t involved in the trolling are punished if the team loses.  This is especially apparent as well as annoying when you are minding your own business in a ranked game and two teammates get into it. 

My biggest pet peeve when it comes to chat in game is saying something along the lines of I hope you or someone in your family dies.  There are a few problems with this kind of speech online.  First, you don’t know if that person has ever contemplated suicide or god forbid is currently going through that.  They might attempt to use league as an escape from their real life bullies and now they are hearing it online.  Now they are dealing with the same negativity they are trying to get away from.  Next telling someone that you hope their (insert family member here) dies is just another issue in itself for a few reasons.  What if that person recently passed away and this is their form of dealing with the loss?  What if that person was really close to the player you just insulted?  What if it’s both of the above?  In one statement you managed to make that persons day worse than it already was to begin with.  

So now we get to how to talk to your teammates and get your point across without doing either of the above things or anything that might get you banned.  First don’t use anything that as a negative connotation associated with it, this includes racial slurs, any swearing, even calling someone a noob can set them off.  Instead offer helpful tips to try to improve their play things like, explaining them why wards are useful or why a certain champion has an advantage over another champion.  Try to be a mentor to your teammates, maybe they recently picked up the game and don't know everything yet.  Believe it or not there was a time when you didn't know everything there was to know about the game.  The nicer you are to your team the better you should work together and the better you work together the higher your chances are that you will win.  

Next be humble in victory and understanding in defeat.  When you are winning don’t start telling the other team how much better you are then them or how bad they are.  All you have to do is say gg and go into the next game, maybe you can leave some helpful hints as to why you won.  Many times when I win a game as graves against a Vayne and I see the other team on her case, I just politely say “Vayne has no early game it is hard for her to compete with Graves at the start.  Next time try playing a safer lane and don’t be so aggressive early.”  Sometimes this will be met with hostility but it has no ill will in the statement and from time to time someone will say thanks.  Then when you lose don’t just say things like “my team was bad” rather than that think about what you could’ve done better personally or how you could’ve helped the team more.  Win or lose you should end a game with gg out of respect for your teammates and your opponents.   

The best tip I’ve ever gotten from anyone when it comes to winning games is this, “If you want to win you have to do everything you can to carry.” This doesn’t mean every game you need to be playing ADC all it means is every game you need to play to the role you’re in to best give your team an advantage as well as be positive and encouraging even when the team is getting down.  That could mean winning top by warding and safe play, roaming from mid to help your jungler gank, ganking a lane as the jungler and snowballing that person into late game, playing to the style of your ADC as a support, or making smart decisions as the ADC about when to fight and when to farm.  Part of the problem with games is once the morale starts to slip once people think the game is over.  This isn’t true at all because there are many great comeback victories that have happened both professionally and online.  One team fight can completely change the games momentum.  Keeping morale high is a key point not only to winning but to having fun while playing.  Leading your team with pings and being an example of a positive player will get you a lot farther with people then putting them down and making them feel bad. 

If this article wasn't enough to persuade you Lyte, Riot's Lead Designer of social systems, recently said this.

"If players are genuinely positive people, they'll get random surprises and perks like this in League. No one in the industry really does it like this, but we'll see how it pans out because we're willing to take risks and just try things. Sometimes we might tie it to lower Reports or high Honor, sometimes we'll tie it to players with no bans and sometimes it'll be for positive language such as how often you say "gg" versus "n*gger." Players who are consistently positive and respectful in game will find that cool things just happen to them in League."

Remember negativity breeds negativity so next time instead of being part of the problem try being part of the solution. 

Ron Fendo

Structure of Season 3 completely changing E-sports

If you’ve always wanted to become a professional player here is your chance. Riot is holding a tryout of sorts to find the new wave of stars for its massively popular game League of Legends.  Don’t worry this isn’t just for the NA teams this includes the international regions of EUW and EUNE which will have their own competitions.  There is one limitation to who can qualify though which can be frustrating for some teams. Everyone must be 17 years old by February 8^th 2013, although this won’t be a problem for most teams some might run into the issue. 

The structure of the event is as follows;

o   Round 1: Qualify as one of the top on ranked 5v5 team ladder by December 27^th 2012.

§  32 teams (NA)

§  16 teams from both (EUW) and (EUNE)

o   Round 2: Online tournament to be played from January 4^th through 6^th. The rules are single elimination best of three

§  32 teams(NA)

§  16 teams from (EUW) and (EUNE) combined into one

o   Round 3: Partner Tournaments

§  Top 10 placing teams move onto round 4

o   Round 4: 16 team live tournament, NA and EU will have their own tournaments

§  6 teams from the online tournaments

§  10 teams from partner tournaments that will prequalify them for this stage

§  Top 5 teams become championship series teams

The top 5 teams from the live tournament will then get the opportunity to compete in the championship series.  These teams join the teams of Moscow Five, SK Gaming, CLG EU, Team Solomid, Dignitas, and CLG NA who have already qualified for the championship series.  This is going to start season 3 off with a bang and inject some new faces into the professional League of Legends scene.  This could create one of the most exciting preseasons of not just esports but competitive sports in general.  Next Week I’ll go into more of why this is such a huge deal and riots plans for those teams taking part in the championship series.